It has been known to provide various forms of baffles in roofing structures to direct or channel air along the underside of the roof, usually from the soffit area of the roof upwardly toward vent ducts or a crest or ridge vent. Such baffle vents often are called "vent chutes". The baffle vents provide barriers to separate the interior surface of the roof from the attic area and from such extraneous materials as insulation which might be located near the underside of the roof. The baffles direct the air against the surface of the roof, eliminate the build-up of moisture and prevent ice formations during winter months.
A major consideration in the design and manufacture of baffle vents of the character described, always has been in the cost of such structures. Taking into consideration the large square footage of the roofs of buildings, such as residential homes, it has been a goal to design baffle vents so that they do not add appreciably to the cost of construction. Consequently, heretofore, baffle vents have been fabricated extensively of foam material in sheets and formed to be self-supporting so that the vents can be handled and manipulated into position for attachment against the interior surface of a roof.
Specifically, such baffle vents conventionally are narrow elongated structures so that they fit between the rafters of a roof structure. When the use of foam material was initiated in fabricating such baffle vents, the structures originally were relatively thick and of a simple channel configuration in cross-section so as to be self-supporting. Such thick structures were relatively expensive and added appreciably to the cost of construction. Attempts have been made to fabricate baffle vents of a thinner foam sheet material, along with formed reinforcing ribs which extend transversely across the narrow dimensions of the elongated structures to reduce cost and to provide additional self-supporting reinforcements.
This invention is directed to further improvements in the art of roof-line baffle vents to provide an improved reinforced structure to prevent the vents from collapsing during shipping, handling and installation, as well as to prevent collapsing of the vents from compacted insulation which often is blown into attic areas of a building against the underside of the baffle vents.